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Too Close for Comfort: Pilot
| next = "It Didn't Happen One Night" }} "Pilot" is the premiere episode of the American television sitcom series Too Close for Comfort. The show was created by Brian Cooke and developers Earl Barret and Arne Sultan. The pilot episode was directed by Will Mackenzie with Barret and Sultan as teleplay writers. It first aired on ABC on November 11th, 1980. The series stars Ted Knight in the role of Henry Rush, Nancy Dussault as his wife, Muriel Rush, Deborah Van Valkenburgh as their daughter Jackie Rush and Lydia Cornell as their other daughter, Sara Rush. Synopsis Henry Rush is a middle-aged man married to a woman named Muriel. They live in a two-story home in San Francisco. Henry is a cartoonist who works out of his home, and is the creator of a comic strip called Cosmic Cow. Muriel is a former musician in a band, who has turned her interests towards photography. She too works out of their home and has her own darkroom. Henry and Muriel sublet the lower apartment of their duplex to a tenant named Myron Rafkin. When Rafkin suddenly dies, Henry discovers that he was living a double-life as a transvestite. He is more than a little perplexed at the revelation that the numerous women he had been holding the door for over the years was actually Rafkin himself. Henry and Muriel have two daughters, Jackie, who is a 21-year-old brunette who works as a bank teller, and Sarah, who is a blonde-haired college student taking classes at San Francisco State University. Sara comes up with the idea of moving in with Jackie in the now-vacated downstairs room. Henry has reservations about this arrangement, particularly in light of how often the sisters feud with one another. Despite this, Jackie and Sara move into their parents' house. Cast Principal Cast Guest Stars Notes & Trivia * First episode of the series; first all appearance of all characters. * This episode is included on disc one of the Too Close for Comfort: The Complete First Season DVD collection by Rhino Theatrical. The collection was released in Region 1 format on November 22nd, 2004. * Production code number: 001 * This episode was originally slated to air at 9:00 PM Eastern on October 28th, 1980, but it was preempted in favor of a presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. With the election on November 4th, the series didn't get started until November 11th, 1980. * Director Will Mackenzie directs five episodes of Too Close for Comfort in total. * Series developer Earl Barret writes five episodes of Too Close for Comfort in total. * Series developer Arne Sultan writes five episodes of Too Close for Comfort in total. * This is the first TV sitcom work for actress Fern Fitzgerald. Prior to this, she appeared on episodes of the daytime soap opera All My Children in 1978. * This is the second television acting work for Mike Nomad. He previously worked on the TV series Fantasy Island. This is also his final TV work as an actor, though he also does work in other venues as a stunt performer. * Actor Jamie Masada is credited as Jamie Mizada in this episode. * This is the only television acting work for Kristin Kelly who plays woman #1 in this episode. * Henry Rush is seen wearing a University of Michigan sweater in this episode. This begins a recurring sight gag in which Henry is perpetually seen wearing a different from a different college. * Although Henry Rush tells Rush that he is 51-years-old in this episode, actor Ted Knight was actually 57-years-old when he started on the series. Allusions * Bloopers * Quotes * Henry Rush: I'm fifty-one, Muriel. I have got parts you can't get anymore. See also External Links * * * * * * ---- Category:Too Close for Comfort/Episodes Category:Too Close for Comfort/Season 1 episodes Category:1980/Episodes Category:Will Mackenzie/Director Category:Earl Barret/Writer Category:Arne Sultan/Writer Category:Jerry McPhie/Producer Category:Bruce W. Cook/Associate producer Category:Episodes with crew categories Category:Episodes with plot summaries